Maiden Voyage

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Helen Keller

New Years Resolutions.   Do you have them?  I was not long into my adulthood when I gave up on them.  Wild, ambitious, completely unrealistic - and they usually never lasted the week.   The past few years however, I began to notice that each new year of family life brought with it a theme that seemed to crop up naturally throughout that year.  A few years ago was The Year of the Teeth - because we all seemed to need a lot of dental work (what a family theme!).  Last year it was the very real sense of life as adventure.  That played out practically with our first overseas trip to Uganda, being separated from our children for the first time, and during the first biggest natural disaster our immediate family and community have had to deal with in my life, moving onto acreage and learning to live a true out-of-door life complete with chickens and fruit trees and renovations to get our new home liveable also including the adventure of living with parents again, sharing an inter-generational property together.  2011 has been a massive year.  2012, at this stage, looks a little more sedate, although the theme of family adventure seems like it may continue.  Work on our property will continue this year, and we hope to be finished by December.  Our eldest daughter will complete her final year of home eduction and get ready to branch out into her own adventures - WOW!

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters, in the end.

Ursula K. Le Guin

Miss M and Miss A
View From A Kayak

Miss K living life the only way she knows  how - at full speed ahead.

Sunday found us at Currimundi Lake, for our Maiden Voyage.  Trying out our new Kayak's for the first time.   During our month of January we are taking a break from renovations.  A bit of a working holiday I guess.  We are planning a camping trip to Somerset Dam and another to Double Island Point.  Water Skiing, Surfing, Kayaking, Fishing, Swimming and Beachcombing are what will be filling our days.  Lovely.

What a wonderful way to begin our new year as a family.  We do not know what this year holds for us.  What challenges we will face, or what we will need to overcome.  But we know this, it will be an adventure, and the God who holds this world in His hands, also holds us in His hands.

What will be the theme of 2012 for you and your family?

A couple of days ago I stumbled across The Family Adventure Project.  The work of a family adventuring together each year.  Taking their idea I have decided to develop our own Family Adventure Project as part of our Home Education this year.  This is as close as I am getting to a New Year's Resolution.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Our aim, quite simply, will be to get outside as much as possible to enjoy adventuring together - bike riding, camping, bushwalking and rock hopping, exploring the wonderful places in our home town, kayaking, boating, beachcombing.  Making an effort to bind our family together through adventure and exploration, and being a little more deliberate in our plans.  Part of the reason for this is that I have three daughters who love to read, write, draw, paint and so on.  Somehow, I have to get them moving and exercising and get them to like it. 

Anyone care to join us?